Who takes care of the orphaned children?

The orphaned children of the couple brutally killed on Banacon Island a day after the bloody police operation against alleged drug lord Rowen Secretaria may be separated from each other as relatives have no financial capacity to take care of all of them. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

THIS 11-year-old boy has just been orphaned along with his four siblings — aged 5, 8, 13 and 17 — their parents’ bodies riddled with gunshot wounds found lying inside the cemetery of Banacon Island a day after the bloody police operation that killed a suspected drug lord and two of his cohorts.

Joseph Dejacto grabbed a plate and filled it with rice and a piece of fried fish, his lunch yesterday eaten inside the San Roque Chapel in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City where the wake of his parents was held.

He and his siblings will probably be separated from each other, each going to a different relative for care. No relative is financially capable of adopting all of them as they too have children of their own to support.

“I don’t want to be separated from my siblings,” he started talking to Cebu Daily News.

Joseph is middle child of Christopher Dejacto and Ma. Theresa Cañete Dejacto of Barangay Ermita.

The couple was killed a day after alleged Cebuano drug lord Rowen Secretaria and his two cohorts were killed, leading to speculations that they were the ones who informed the police of the presence of Secretaria in the island.

Relatives decided that they would take care of the orphaned children who would be distributed among them.

Joseph’s fears and anxiety about being separated from his siblings were all too plain to see.

“I want to look after my siblings,” the 11-year-old boy said, bravely wiping the tears that started running down his cheeks.

Joseph is the third of the five children. His other siblings are Joshua (17 years old), TJ Christ (13 years old), Katrina (8 years old) and Trudis (5 years old).

Joseph knew his parents usually stayed on Banacon Island every week as they made their living there.

His mother Ma. Theresa was a laundry woman and a spice vendor. His father Christopher worked in the construction of rip-raps on Banacon Island.

He learned of the death of his parents when his relatives told him and his first reaction was to urge them to go to Banacon so that “Atong tabangon si mama ug papa na!” (We will help Mama and Papa!)

He said he might not be able to go to school this year. Joseph is an incoming grade 5 student at San Nicolas Elementary School.

FINANCIAL HELP

Ma. Theresa, the third of the six children of Bienvenido and Balmori Cañete, was just 39 years old at the time of her death. Her twin sister Maria Ana Cañete Valledo spoke to Cebu Daily News yesterday and appealed for financial help to bury the couple.

So far, there has been no help from the barangay or the Cebu City government.

“We could not even schedule their interment because we have no money,” she said in Cebuano. The remains of her twin sister and her sister’s husband lay unclaimed for four days at the funeral home because the family needed to raise P3,000 for the down payment. The remains arrived in Barangay Ermita Thursday afternoon.

“Please help us,” Maria Ana told Cebu Daily News.

GOOD PEOPLE

Maria Ana remains puzzled by the death of the couple, saying they were good people.

“They were never involved in any fight and we don’t have any idea who killed them,” she said in Cebuano.

“I will miss her. She joked around and had a loud voice,” Maria Ana said in Cebuano as tears started to flow from her eyes.

They are afraid to ask help from the police and the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the deaths of the couple.

“We are afraid of what will happen to us because we really do not know what happened there,” she said.

If their financial circumstances would not permit them to take care of the children, she said they will ask help from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for temporary custody. “Maluoy ko sa mga bata (I pity the children)” she said.

Cebu Daily News called DSWS Chief Ester Concha for a comment but she did not answer the calls.